Foundation Collaboration: Partnering to Improve Young Children’s Oral Health
Dental disease is the single most common chronic childhood disease and is so widespread and the health effects so significant that the U.S. Surgeon General has classified dental disease as a silent epidemic (HHS 2000).
It Takes Many Villages to Create a Public Health Improvement Plan
Public health has gained attention in Colorado over the last four years as a result of a partnership that includes health foundations, the Colorado School of Public Health, the state legislature, and state and local health agencies.
Paid Sick Days: A Health Policy for Everyone
When the H1N1 pandemic broke out, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged sick people to stay home. Unfortunately, for many Americans, staying home meant losing income, losing a good shift, or worse, losing their job.
The State of State Budgets
At a recent meeting of state health policymakers, California team members were asked to compare their budget problems with the Titanic’s sinking and determine which health initiatives were essential and worthy of being loaded into a lifeboat. One member quipped, “We’re just trying to figure out whom to EAT in the lifeboat!”
Integrative Medicine Offers Opportunity for Shared Learning and Collaboration
There is growing interest in the field known as integrative medicine. A 2007 national survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 38.3 percent of all adults, up from 36 percent in 2002, accessed some form of complementary and alternative medicine through visits to acupuncturists, chiropractors, massage therapists, among others.
Shifting Paradigms in Promoting Oral Health for Young Children
Tooth decay remains the single most prevalent chronic disease of America’s children, affecting 44 percent by age six (Dye et al. 2007). Grantmakers, government, and the professions have long focused energy and resources on getting children into dental care to repair the ravages of this preventable disease and to eliminate associated pain and infection.
Honoring Community Voices to Enhance Health Grantmaking
In philanthropic circles we spend a lot of time discussing the importance of how foundations can meet the needs of and strengthen communities. We expect our grants and program support will prompt change and improve lives, but how often do we end up doing things “to” a community as opposed to working “with” a community to achieve common goals?